


Growing Up, Little By Little

by sleepingirl



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: X & Y | Pokemon X & Y Versions
Genre: Direct Sequel, Gen, Post-Canon, eureka centric, eureka grows up just a little bit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-02
Updated: 2018-07-02
Packaged: 2019-06-01 10:16:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15140948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sleepingirl/pseuds/sleepingirl
Summary: "There is a quality to childhood which coats everything in magic; experiences from younger years only grow more ethereal with age, nostalgia tinting everything and turning memories into fairy tales. But as she grew up, Eureka knew that her childhood experiences surpassed the mundane, and it wasn’t just her yearning for a time long past."(I was heartbroken to see everyone go at the end of XY&Z and I needed to see Eureka off on her own journey of becoming a Pokemon trainer. Melancholic but uplifting.)





	Growing Up, Little By Little

There is a quality to childhood which coats everything in magic; experiences from younger years only grow more ethereal with age, nostalgia tinting everything and turning memories into fairy tales.

But as she grew up, Eureka knew that her childhood experiences surpassed the mundane, and it wasn’t just her yearning for a time long past.

She remembers the day at the airport vividly; she remembers meeting Dedenne; she remembers travelling all of Kalos before she’d even turned 11. Her time with her brother, Serena, and Satoshi was magical, truly magical, and although the vividness of each day wouldn’t stay, the memories of those feelings were intense and persistent.

It was hard to adjust to normalcy once Satoshi and Serena left. Citron was quick to resume his duties at the gym with newfound intensity. For him, there was a place and a purpose; for her, it was an endless wait until she was old enough to start training Pokemon of her own.

But Eureka watched; she’d been watching the whole time with her friends, and she watched her brother battle hopeful trainer after trainer. She watched with Dedenne on her shoulder or in her arms, always sitting on the sidelines and sometimes officiating Citron’s matches. The ins and outs of Pokemon battles became something familiar and comforting, and she tried as best she could to channel the sadness and loss into motivation.

She would be strong. Satoshi had told her. Her brother always reminded her.

When her 11th birthday came, she broke into tears when he smiled and handed her a Pokeball at breakfast -- she knew immediately that it was Dedenne’s, and it came bounding towards her, chirping excitedly, nuzzling her face as she cried, clutching at it.

Satoshi and Serena had sent her gifts as well; from Satoshi, there was a set of empty Pokeballs all her own, and from Serena a beautiful, handpainted brush which she immediately groomed Dedenne with.

Even from across the world, even after a couple of years, they remembered her, and they were cheering her on.

Eureka cherished each memory, a series of firsts; the first time she had a Pokemon battle (losing spectacularly to her brother as he gave her pointers), the first Pokemon she caught (a Caterpie in the fields outside Miare City), her first time rushing to a Pokemon Center in tears (when she’d pushed her partners too hard in training). There were so many that Eureka felt like she would drown in them, and she had the sense that she was living through something amazing as she and her Pokemon friends grew together. When she was travelling with Citron, Satoshi, and Serena, she was too young to clutch on to the moments as they happened, just approaching each day with wide, carefree eyes. Living in Miare again, budding into a real trainer, Eureka desperately was trying to live in the present as much as she could, but after a while, memories slipped like water through her fingers.

Her and Dedenne were more inseparable than ever. Like Satoshi’s Pikachu, Eureka kept Dedenne out of its Pokeball even though she now carried it with her. She was learning a lot about how it battled, and it was, too; gaining confidence in the way that Eureka would start to learn its movements and direct them. Eureka knew that Dedenne wasn’t the strongest Pokemon, but she’d learned so early as a part of her upbringing that sheer strength wasn’t the thing that made you a powerful trainer; it was the brightness of the bond and the hard work, which she and Dedenne had in spades.

She remembered a moment early on where Dedenne was getting knocked around by a Pidgey in the forest and actually turned tail and ran, frustrated. When Eureka found it, it was crying behind the Pokemon Center, and all she could do was hold it and comfort it, promising that together they’d grow strong, that she’d never give up on it.

It was an extension of the promise she made when they’d first met; that when she was old enough, they’d travel together as trainer and partner.

When she turned 12, she challenged her brother again -- this time, in the gym.

Citron and her father knew what this meant, even if they didn’t say anything; Pokemon trainers don’t go after just one badge. They go for everything.

With Dedenne and now a Metapod, she didn’t have an advantage against Citron’s Electric-type Pokemon, but she’d learned a lot about strategy at a disadvantage from him and Satoshi, and she was able to outlast with Metapod and use Dedenne’s speed to clinch a victory.

Her brother smiled and handed her the badge, congratulating her, and in that moment he looked older, too; falling into his stride as a Gym Leader, a little more experienced and a little more wise. He asked her what gym she was going to challenge next, and she grinned and told him that she didn’t know -- probably she’d just start travelling and see where it took her.

Citron had a sad little smile when he told her that he knew she was going to leave, and Eureka had known already that he was going to stay behind. She was happy he was the one to bring it up; she was going to ask him if she could go alone, anyways. As tempting as it was to try to relive their adventures, as much as she cherished him, it felt like this was an acknowledgement of her adolescence, something she and Dedenne needed.

To some degree, that nomadic nature had been learned through those wonder years in her childhood. She lived a life that had allowed her the freedom of going wherever she pleased, wherever her strength -- and the strength of her friends -- would allow her to go. It had influenced her so heavily, had such an impact on her to have been able to have those magical experiences and meet such amazing people at that age. It really had changed her forever.

She thought of Satoshi, who’d been travelling for years, always going somewhere new, always aiming somewhere higher. He’d come into their lives with his steadfast friendship and untouchable optimism, changed all of them permanently, and as quickly as he’d come, he’d left. As Eureka got older, she wondered how many other friends he’d made, how many other people he and Pikachu had touched and inspired. There was something unreal about him, too perfect, flawed in just the right ways, and even just a few years later she was beginning to forget the details of who he was and was more remembering the idealization of him and the magic that surrounded him.

She called him on the day that she and Dedenne and Metapod were leaving -- he was deep in some Alolan jungle when he answered, grinning that timeless grin as Pikachu bounced in excitement.

“So you’re going on your own adventure,” he said. “You look ready for it! You and Dedenne were always so ready to go.”

Eureka beamed. “Yeah. I’m not a little kid anymore. I beat my brother the other day. I told you, Dedenne and I are going to be the best.”

Satoshi laughed, and it brought her right back to being a little girl again, like she knew what he was going to say, like this was an exchange they’d had thousands of times already.

“We’ll see about that. I guess we’ll have to battle and find out!”

“OK, but I won’t lose.”

“Me either.” Satoshi gave a thumbs up, and Eureka wondered briefly if she really could catch up with him someday, if they really would have this battle. Knowing Satoshi, he’d travel to the ends of the Earth for a Pokemon battle. The question was whether or not she’d be ready when he came.

She felt a powerful, intoxicating surge of motivation when she realized that she had to be.

“You know,” Satoshi said, “It was always amazing how you befriended Pokemon -- I was jealous sometimes! You always loved Pokemon so much, you cared about every single one we met when we were all travelling together. I thought to myself, ‘Wow, she’s really going to be amazing someday.’ And I bet I’m right! I bet you’re gonna be one of the best trainers in Kalos.”

His blunt sincerity stunned her into silence, smiling a little at him, wiping at her eyes as she felt tears welling up.

How could she not be? After everything she’d done already, after an upbringing so perfect, after a childhood so magical. She was made for this; she was ready for this.

Eureka and Dedenne would aim for the League, and she vowed that they would achieve what Satoshi and Pikachu could not. They would fight, and they would win.

**Author's Note:**

> I have been writing fanfiction for a decade and I have never once written something without smut. Pokemon XY destroyed me and I miss them all so much. It was killing me that we'd never get to see Eureka grow up and become a trainer herself, something she wanted for so long, so I just had to do something. I don't even know if anyone is in this fandom anymore. I'm sorry I used the Japanese names for the people and places but not the Pokemon.


End file.
